Pierre Omidyar is a business billionaire who is most known for his online bidding platform, ‘eBay,’ which transformed the area of e-commerce. He began his career as a young man with a software business called ‘Claris,’ where he assisted his team in developing ‘Apple Inc’s application ‘MacDraw II.’ With the founding of ‘Ink Development,’ he soon gave fresh meaning to his dormant ambitions of starting a business. This became known as the ‘eShop,’ and it sold products such as the ‘InkWare Photo’ and the ‘InkWare NoteTaker.’ He eventually founded ‘eBay,’ and by the time he was 31, he had made billions of dollars. ‘eBay’ had launched its own stock market, and the company’s shares rapidly brought in almost $4.45 billion in revenue. Some of the funds were used to provide a portion of the capital for the California-based ‘Montage Resort and Spa.’ Omidyar has launched the internet news service ‘Honolulu Civil Beat,’ which provides updates on events in Hawaii. The online news website has also done well, and has established itself as a leader in the field of investigative journalism. Many believe that this experienced business mogul is still going strong, and that he is on his way to becoming a household name when it comes to innovative online ventures.
Childhood and Adolescence
On June 21, 1967, in Paris, Pierre Morad Omidyar was born to Iranian settlers Elahé Mir-Djalali Omidyar and her spouse. His mother is a well-known linguist, while his father worked as a surgeon at the ‘Johns Hopkins University.’
The family eventually relocated to the United States, where the little boy attended Virginia’s ‘Potomac School.’ In 1984, he graduated from ‘St. Andrew’s Episcopal School’ in Maryland with a secondary education.
Pierre graduated from Massachusetts’ ‘Tufts University’ in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in computer technology. He worked for a few years after graduation at a business named ‘Claris,’ which developed some of the software utilized by ‘Apple Inc.’
Career of Pierre Omidyar
This software enthusiast, along with Arnold Blinn, Greg Stein, Will Poole, and Matt Kursh, created the ‘Ink Development’ small-scale pen computer corporation in 1991. The founders of ‘Ink Development’ renamed the company ‘eShop’ and began focusing on e-commerce two years later.
On September 4, 1995, Omidyar launched ‘Auction Web,’ an internet portal that allowed users to buy and sell products online. The bright businessman obtained the license to sell plane tickets on the web in less than a year. In 1996, he also engaged ‘Jeffrey Skoll,’ a skilled engineer, to work with him on ‘Auction Web.’
After his initial pick of ‘echobay’ was already in use, ‘Auction Web’ was renamed ‘eBay’ in 1997. During the same time span, daily auctions of items for sale averaged 800,000. Another capable entrepreneur was hired as the Chief Executive Officer of ‘eBay’ the next year. The ‘eBay’ business continued to thrive, bringing in billions for all of the website’s co-founders.
In 2004, he and his wife Pamela launched the ‘Omidyar Network,’ which provides financial support to small firms that try to make a positive impact on society.
Pierre is also interested in digital media, and in 2010 he launched the ‘Honolulu Civil Beat,’ a news website. Since then, the ‘Honolulu Civil Beat’ has won the title for ‘Best News Website’ for three consecutive years.
The weblog ‘Huffpost Hawaii’ was launched in 2013 as a result of a collaboration between the ‘Huffington Post’ and the ‘Honolulu Civil Beat.’
On February 10, 2014, the successful entrepreneur founded ‘First Look Media,’ a journalism company, and its subsidiary, ‘The Intercept,’ which provides internet news. Glenn Greenwald, Dan Froomkin, Jeremy Scahill, and Laura Poitras were among the members of the organization.
Major Projects of Pierre Omidyar
His most successful business venture was ‘eBay,’ which began as a small-scale e-commerce website. However, it has recently made billions of dollars and developed subsidiaries such as ‘Half.com,’ ‘Kijiji,’ and ‘StubHub.’
Achievements & Awards
For his successful enterprise, ‘eBay,’ Pierre got the ‘EY Entrepreneur of the Year’ award in 1999.
In 2011, his alma mater, ‘Tufts University,’ bestowed an honorary doctorate in public service on this brilliant entrepreneur.
Personal History and Legacy
Pierre is married to Pamela Wesley, a biology graduate and co-founder of most of his businesses, and the couple has three children.
In 2010, Omidyar, Pamela, Richard Branson, and the ‘Nduna Foundation’ launched ‘Enterprise Zimbabwe,’ a venture aimed at assisting the country’s economic development.
Estimated Net Worth
This businessman is one of the world’s wealthiest persons, having amassed an estimated fortune of $17.9 billion through the earnings of his company ‘eBay.’
Trivia
In the year 2003, the popular e-commerce site operated by this well-known Iranian-American businessman was accused of stealing Thomas Woolston’s software.